Thanks James. Great video once again. I feel like it has taken me about 4 months of trying to be more balanced to recognize that this is not the best way to go in MTT`s, especially at midstakes level. This video helps confirm it! Your videos really help me on a deeper level than pure strat. Please continue!

Really enjoyed this one James! Seamlessly weaving in examples from chess, survivor and drinking fine wines - well done.

Wow, this video really hits home...

When I get deep in tournaments, I play with scared money. In the middle stages if it's folded to me on the small blind, I have no problem exploiting my opponents by pushing any two cards when the effective stack size is ten big blinds, but if I'm anywhere near a final table, I pass up on +EV all ins because I have the irrational fear that my opponents will wake up with a hand or that they will call me light. Anywhere near final tables, I'm reluctant to get a playable hand. I'm not bold enough to re-steal. I'm unable to follow through with my bluffs. I pass up on value by over betting just so I don't have to make a decision on a later street. If someone wanted to maximally exploit me deep in tournaments, they should double barrel their entire range, re-steal every time I open in late position with a vulnerable stack, and check-raise every time I c-bet.

I guess the core problem is I love the idea of scoring big. I want to tell everyone about my final table cashes. I want random people on the internet to think I'm good at poker. I want to stop taking out loans to pay for my college expenses. I want to feel adequate. Perhaps that's why I get depressed when I'm on a big downswing. Maybe that's why I follow bad bank roll management when it comes to MTTs, but I'm a nit with sit and go buy ins. I ask myself: Why is it I put in so many hours into this game at the cost of my health and social life, only to have my bankroll revert to where it was a month ago?

Competition has a been a driving factor for me. My dad was a chess master, and he took me to chess tournaments when I was in elementary school, which is why I was able to relate to your section involving chess. Quick chess has always been a weakness of mine by the way. In high school, I devoted most of my free time to reaching masters league in Starcraft 2, and more recently, I tried to get enough championship points to qualify for the Pokemon World Championships. Poker is no different. I love the thrill of winning and moving up. Cash games don't do the trick. A steady income is boring. Winning is fun. But the cost of this mindset is an unstable mental game and a lack of self-improvement outside of poker. Of course if one recognizes that the bowl is dirty, one ought to clean it.

ty for the insights James. made me feel kinda proud of being a poker player, since we can get to - and also are forced to - discover layers of deepness in ourselves, in relationships, in others, that we would have a hard time discovering those things in most of other activities available for working or with the lifestyles that people normally have.

Videos like this are why I subscribed to RIO.

Great video, James. Really good stuff.

Brilliant, excellent in depth psychological analysis, thank you.

Great vid!

I've literally been waiting for a vid like this for years.

when i saw the secret of timing slide, all i could think of is: know when to win your flips

great stuff James, keep continue...I have a subject for you as a wine enthusiast, you can start a serie with how to taste of MTT :) to be a MTT master, like a master of wine.

Since the title is "The Art of MTT's" and the author is you James, I was actually expecting a little more content about what kind of things that makes MTT's like an art compared to the linearity in cash-games and the GTO applied in those. Especially with the nice first part that pointed out the need for a more exploitative view on poker in MTT's because of the structure that affects emotions and so on. It feels like you diving into 'timing' is only the tip of the iceberg of what can be discussed under this umbrella called "The Art of MTT's"

So what I'm saying is... can you make a part 2 and give us some more of your insight?

Fantastic video, James!

Could watch/listen to Obst discourse on these topics for hours.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, much appreciated. Will keep thinking about ideas for a part two, I realised there was more to timing I could have gone into as well. Have a winning weekend!

Nice vid! Enjoyed your points about timing related to MTTs and chess. That bishop on b7 tho :)

Interested in your thoughts on the variance in MTTs vs NL cash or PLO cash.

Great stuff! Can´t wait for part 2 :)

But how many times did you play that second game to make your point? :P

best mtt video on here in a long time. Very refreshing seeing you cover stuff that simply hasnt been covered at all before by anyone. Keep it up

Nice video !

Fantastic video James. I really enjoy your style of teaching. Very comprehensive and introspective. You've definitely put in the work, and been honest with yourself. It's hard to find people who have done either, much less both.

Really great video. Its great having coaches who are focused on the technical side of the game but you're dead right that there are a lot of intangibles that tend to get neglected, in training videos if not at the tables, would love to see more videos along these lines.

If I agreed with your description of the character traits of the MTT playing demographic, I'd have serious ethical reservations about grinding them. Fortunately for my conscience, I wholeheartedly don't agree with that description. Since you do, how do you reconcile it?

Fantastic video

This is one of the first videos I watched after becoming an elite subscriber, I was looking for something other than HH reviews and it was great. Love fresh and unique perspectives on MTTs, the stuff about acting quicker than your opponents and having the luxury of thinking more clearly as they take longer was something I've never thought of.

This is great! Insights like these are why I subscribe to RIO.

Great video, thanks James

Great video. Never expected Vincent van der Voort to be mentioned in a RIO video lol.

Excellent video, as always. You are so smart and it´s so interesting to listen to what you have to say. Thank you!

I'm curious why were getting ads to see a video that's TT years old.